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Monday, July 24, 2006

Posted
on Mon, Jul 24, 2006 at 4:00 AM

If youve got a short story on hand, youre interested in possibly winning $1,000 for it, and youd like to see it published in the pages of Memphis magazine, go to Memphismagazine.com. for details on the magazine's annual fiction contest. But make it snappy. Youve got until August 1st to enter.

Authors must live within 150 miles of Memphis, but stories do not have to have a Memphis or Southern theme.

Friday, July 21, 2006

A young Memphian named Austin Carroll is one of the 11 contenders on a new American Idol copycat show that premiered this week on ABC. Called The One: Making of a Music Star, the show follows the various contestants as they prepare for auditions, get lessons from coaches, and then perform before a panel of judges whose qualifications are even more vague than Randy Jacksons. The difference between this show and others like it? All the contestants live together, so we get to see them squabble.

Wednesday night, Carroll, a chubby sort of fellow who likes to brush his blondish hair straight down into his eyes and frets that he is too eccentric, was deemed close to greatness by the judges after singing The Weight by The Band.

Its a good start, but who is this guy? We thought we knew all the music folks in town, and his bio just mentions rather vaguely that he is the son of a Grammy Award-winning father.

Still, he made it to the next round, but will he go farther? Stay tuned. And read here what some others think about the new show  and Carroll.  Michael Finger

Justin Timberlake admitted to having done way too many drugs already in a recent interview with the UK Guardians Observer Music Monthly.

That was his response when the interviewer inquired as to whether hed ever aspired to run for president of the United States.

Said Timberlake: Ive already inhaled and Ive already who knows. Im just like everyone else. I get completely plastered. Ive done my fair share of drugs and Ive been caught places with my pants down; its just I make sure there are no cameras around.

The same sort of behavior in his younger days didnt stop our current president from taking the reins of power. Maybe J-Tim is on the right track for a future presidential bid after all.

The AP is reporting that a federal judge in Arkansas has halted a $320 million irrigation project for fear it could disturb the habitat of the ivory-billed woodpecker  that may or may not be extinct.

The last confirmed sighting of the bird in North America was in 1944, and scientists had thought the species was extinct until 2004, when a kayaker claimed to have spotted one in the area.

U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson said that for purposes of the lawsuit brought by environmental groups, he had to assume the woodpecker exists in the area. And he ruled that federal agencies may have violated the Endangered Species Act by not studying the risks fully.

The project, which was halted by a lack of funds earlier this year, was scheduled to begin again this fall.

To read more on the ruling, go here. To read the Flyer's story on the "rediscovery" of the ivory-billed woodpecker, go here.

A second home at Tunica? Wed have hooted at such a thought back in the misty past, before the little farm town became the gambling mecca of the Mid-South. Now developers Cody Harrell and Matthew Dunn plan to build some 700 homes, 600 apartments and condos, and retail and office space near Tunica National Golf and Tennis Club. Harrell says they expect the development to appeal to empty nesters and casino employees. Single-family homes would range from 2,500 to 6,000 square feet and start at around $300,000. For more, go to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger story.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

HBO has announced that the first season of Big Love  starring Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny, and Memphis native Ginnifer Goodwin as a polygamist family  will come out on DVD October 17th. The five-disc set is slated to include all 12 episodes, three audio commentary tracks, "Big Love: A Balancing Act on Ice" featurette, and ... three pairs of magical Mormon underwear.

Keith Richards, the hard-rocking, harder-living guitarist for the Rolling Stones is getting a clean slate in our neighboring state of Arkansas, thanks to Governor Mike Huckabee. Thirty-one years ago, Richards was arrested for reckless driving as he, bandmate Ron Wood, a security guard, and a "fan" drove from Memphis to Dallas. Huckabee, himself something of a musician  he's in a band called Capitol Offense that played the Republican National Convention  worried that Richards impression of the Natural State may have been marred by a misdemeanor traffic stop. Pardoning Keef was a nice gesture, but asking if Capitol Offense could open for Stones took it one step too far, we think. Read more here.

All three cities are tied for the number-35 spot in a national survey that ranks the natural disaster risk of U.S. cities. A group called SustainLane.com examined the potential for communities to suffer earthquakes, floods, something called super tornadoes, and other natural disasters, and ranked them accordingly. The higher the number on the list, the less safe you are. The lower, the better.

And the safest city? A tie between Mesa, Arizona, and Milwaukee. The only danger in those places, we suspect, is terminal boredom.

Graven Image
It seems everyone has an opinion about the 72-foot-tall Lady of Liberation statue on Winchester. Some call it unpatriotic, because the Ladys iconic torch has been traded for a shiny gold cross. Others call it a tacky embarrassment to our city. (Apparently the members of World Overcomers Church think its downright lovely.)

But the local Commission on Religion and Racism (CORR) is calling it a graven image. The coalition of local religious reform organizations is organizing weekly protests at the church demanding that Rev. Alton Williams remove the statue immediately.

They claim the Statue of Liberty is a worldly symbol that has no place on Holy ground. They say it represents racism, because while the original statue was intended to welcome all people to the states, black people were forced into the country as slaves.

We must strip the superficial clothing from the statue of liberty to get a good look at the naked truth behind the perpetuated myth, says a statement released by CORR. We call upon you in the name of God, to take that idol of stone down.

CORR leaders say the group plans to begin protesting Sunday, August 6th. They say they will continue to do so weekly, until the statue comes down. Considering the $260,000 the church spent on the Lady, that might be a long time. -Bianca Phillips

"Bad luck did develop between Deeson and Alligator just after you have passed through Round Lake as this pig came across the road in front of you, but your left front wheel hit him as he continued to run squealing and you were able to keep your car going straight. You did stop and everyone got out and luck was with you, no one was hurt. It did bend your fender a little bit and that was all.

"The pig was nowhere to be seen, so we all got back in the car to continue the trip. ..."

And now for something completely different, as they say. Namely, Emil Nick's multi-part reminiscence of a trip to Memphis from Greenville, Mississippi, in the 1930s. Ol' Emil wanders all over the place, but it's fascinating, in a sort of a Kerouac/geezer way. Check it out in the Delta Democrat Times.

Posted
on Wed, Jul 19, 2006 at 4:00 AM

On Wednesday, there will be a screening of The Damnedest, Finest Ruins, a documentary about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. The screening will be followed by a discussion by the filmmaker James Dalessandro and experts on the New Madrid fault line. Theyll talk about the threat of earthquake and how to be prepared. The event will be in the City Council chamber in City Hall, starting at 6:30 p.m.

Posted
on Wed, Jul 19, 2006 at 4:00 AM

The City Council parks committee discussed Tuesday where the Grand Carousel  once a mainstay of the now-defunct Libertyland  should be located. The Riverfront Development Corporation wouldnt mind seeing it on Mud Island. Other people have suggested moving it to the zoo, but the zoo already has a carousel. City attorney Sara Hall told council members the city is still trying to find a site where it would add value and interest.

Which got us thinking: Where would be the perfect place for the carousel? Near Winchester and the Statue of Liberation? On the Main Street Mall? Right where it is?

Let us know  email the Flyer  and well run the best ideas in the paper.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Posted
on Tue, Jul 18, 2006 at 4:00 AM

The City Council parks committee discussed Tuesday where the Grand Carousel  once a mainstay of the now-defunct Libertyland  should be located. The Riverfront Development Corporation wouldnt mind seeing it on Mud Island. Other people have suggested moving it to the zoo, but the zoo already has a carousel. City attorney Sara Hall told council members the city is still trying to find a site where it would add value and interest.

Which got us thinking: Where would be the perfect place for the carousel? Near Winchester and the Statue of Liberation? On the Main Street Mall? Right where it is?

Let us know  email the Flyer  and well run the best ideas in the paper.

The Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, which is dedicated to preserving the memory, and the legacy of the troubled watercolorist and sculptor Walter Anderson recently acquired a large collection of the artists work from the estate of a Memphis art collector.

Louise Lehman, who started collecting Andersons work in the 1940s, and who is credited with arranging Andersons first gallery shows at The Brooks Museum of Art, made it clear before her death in 1988, that she wanted the artwork returned to the museum in Ocean Springs. The downside: She stipulated that there had to be some financial compensation.

Eighteen years later, the money became available to acquire the collection, which includes Andersons Chesty Horse. Go here for the rest of the story. To read a Flyer story about Andersons life and work, go here.